30.3.16

Hi friends delighted to see the enthusiastic participation in my Celebration Events...Thank you so much !
When Shalini [owner of Crafters Corner] asked me what product I wanted to work with for my DT post .....I had no hesitation in choosing 2 tools from Crystal Ninja... the Crystal Katana and the Tanto which have been getting rave reviews from crafters all over the world and being recommended left and right by jewelry makers, papercrafters and DIY ers!

Crystal Katana and tanto

If you are like me you must have marvelled at how crafters use tiny pearls so extensively in their projects making beautiful eye-catching lattices and borders and wondered how they had the patience to work with those fiddly little embellishments!
I don't have super nimble fingers or the patience of a saint ,neither do I like to wrestle with tweezers and a tiny sequin or chase runaway flying pearls!
So I was just itching to get my hands on a tool which will help me use all those tiny pearls and crystals in my projects!
And was thrilled when Shalini brought a whole series of Crystal Ninja products to her shop Crafters Corner post CHA 2016

Ok what exactly are the Crystal Katana and Tanto?
In simple language these are "pick up" tools to help pick up any tiny teeny embellishment such as pearls, sequins , tiny rhinestones etc .And so these tools make your crafting easier, quicker and more fun!!
These awesome tools were invented by Kellie DeFries who works extensively with Swarovski crystals and has used the Crystal Katana to completely cover in crystals some crazily huge stuff such as cars, whole dresses to name a few ...there are several you tube videos showing her cover a Ferrari in Swarovski crystals using her tool the Crystal Katana for the Guinness record!Uses of the tools
To easily and quickly pick up and release tiny embellishments such as

pearls

beads

sequins

rhinestones

crystals

tiny bits of paper etc

Video Demonstration of the Crystal Katana

-to pick up small pearls and rhinestones
Steps

Apply tiny dots of glue on the places you want to stick your pearls/rhinestones to

Pick up tiny pearls using the wax tip of the Crystal Katana

Touch the pearl onto the glue dot- the pearl will release immediately

Optional- move it around or press it using the chrome metal end of the Crystal Katana !

Crystal Katana Instruction on its packet

In this video my little girl helps me to demo the Crystal Katana for you....Please do forgive the little errors that inevitably creep in !
If videos are not your cup of tea...keep scrolling down ...I have tried to take step by step picturesFeatures of the Crystal Katana

The Crystal Katana has a lightweight wooden body with a special wax tip at one end and a chrome metal end at the other end

Crystal Katana

The Waxused is specially formulated and said to be much superior to normal wax as it leaves no residue on the pearl/crystal it picks up - an important consideration for professional jewelry makers working with crystals

Crystal Katana wax end

One big advantage over competitor pick up tools is that both the Katana and the Tanto quickly release the pearl/rhinestone when it is touched to a glue drop.
Before I got the Katana , I had bought a Silhouette pick me up tool which is super for quickly picking up tiny pearls and beads but refuses to let go of it once it picks it up...requiring additional effort of using some other tool to release it ! The Chrome metal end can be used to firmly push the pearl/crystal etc into the glue or move it around to get a perfect positioning!
The metal end itself is a two in one tool with two diameter tool options.

Crystal Katana

It can be unscrewed like a pen tip and you can store the thinner pointed nib inside and just use the larger diameter tip - an important feature for jewelry makers who play with teeny tiny crystals and larger crystals/beads !

Crystal Katana

The photo above shows the Crystal Katana with its fine needle tip attached

Crystal Katana

On unscrewing you can see the two types of tips possible

Crystal Katana

You can store the needle tip inside the body of the Crystal Katana

Crystal Katana

And screw on the large diameter metal tip if you want to work with larger crystals/ pearls etc

Sharing a few simple projects to show you how the Crystal Katana works

2. Working with small round pearls

Crystal Katana

If you like working with beads or other tiny embellishment the bead funnel tray is a nice investment...it has a screw on cap which you can open once you are done to put away your glitter/beads back into the bottle.

Funnel

I lined the funnel tray with a piece of foam so that my pearls don't run away too much!

With the Katana it hand it was easy to add tiny pearl bodies to all the butterflies on my project!

A thin line of Tombow glue - prefered Tombow mono multi over my usual Fevicol mr in this setting as I wanted to work quickly and wanted a strong long lasting adhesive.Tom bow is nice and tacky and the pearls won't fall off easily.

Crystal Katana

Gently picked up a pearl using the wax tip of the Katana

pearl on katana

See how the pearl stays stuck to the tip.

wax tip

On touching the pearl onto the glue on the butterfly , the pearl is easily released from the wax tip

chrome end

If you want to fiddle around with its position you can use the metal tip end

One more butterfly dressed up....Such a lovely touch a few pearl add on isnt it!

Butterfly

Added lots of pearls on my collage clay cake using the Crystal Katana and you can see the full project here : Faux Rainbow Cake

pearls

3. More uses- Making or repairing hair accessories and jewelry with pearls and crystal

Hair clip repair

Some of my favorite hair clips had lost some tiny crystals and pearls and I had been postponing even attempting to repair it till I got the Crystal Katana !

Crystal Katana Use

Used jewelry grade Modpodge wonder glue and the Crystal Katana to repair it and now they are as good as new!

Crystal Katana use

4. Easily and quickly adding pearls/sequins/rhinestones to a project

5. Nail art - sticking on tiny rhinestones and sequins to a small area

nail art

The Crystal Katana is extremely popular with nail art artists and you will find innumerable videos on you tube about its use in nail art.

Being a surgeon I dont grow nails and mostly even avoid nail polish for that matter as that is what we have been taught in medical college! But my daughter is one girly girly child and you can see the nail art she created using the Tanto

What is the Tanto ?

Tanto

The Tanto is the economical version of the Crystal Katana .Features of the Tanto
It looks like an eyebrow pencil
It is lightweight and easy to handle without stringing your hands
It is made of wax and works as well as the Crystal Katana in picking up tiny embellishments

Tanto

There is a protective lid on the tip so that you can store it without damaging the soft tip
You can actually sharpen it just like a regular pencil when the tip blunts
It will last a looong time!
The difference with the Crystal Katana is that the Tanto does not have a metal tip to move around and firmly press the pearl/crystal onto your project

Here is my daughter's nail art using the Tanto

Nail Art with Tanto

Unlike your fingers both the Crystal Katana and the Tanto can pick up tiny embellishments from tiny storage spaces like in this picture below

29.3.16

Hi friends posting the final giveaway [Giveaway No 14]of my 5 million page view celebrations. Knowing that the majority of my readers are papercrafters I bet you will love this giveaway sponsored by a new Designer Paper brand called Bob n Betty owned by a brother - sister duo Rishabh and Deepika Sharma.

I have already told you about the amazing Shalini Mittal, who owns one of the leading craft supply stores in India, Crafters Corner. Well Shalini is a huge brand by herself and she has literally taken the young Bob N Betty Company under her wings and formed a partnership with them to sell their gorgeous designer papers! Shalini stocks some big big brands of the papercrafting industry in her shop and a big "thumbs up" to Shalini for supporting local talent in such a huge way! Love how the crafting industry is evolving in India!

The papers designed by Deepika are of fabulous quality and have such gorgeous pretty designs. I have already showcased some of her papers in this post : Mixed Media Book tutorial

One lucky winner anywhere in the world will win

3 huge 12 x 12 inch stacks of their latest release:

Ornate Annie

Floral Logs

and Voyager

How can you win the giveaway from Bob n Betty [ will ship worldwide]

Be a follower of this blog Anyone can follow ...you just need to have a gmail account in order to "Follow My Blog" [that is you need to log in to your gmail account and while logged in to your Google+ profile click the blue "Join this Site" rectangle bar on the widget with all the lovely faces on my sidebar]
2. Post the giveaway picture shown above or my celebration banner picture on your blog sidebar or if you don't have a blog, share to facebook with a link back to my blog. For newbies : Here is How to Add an Image to the Blog Sidebar3.Comment on this post before April 2nd

For Extra Entries

Go to themain Celebration Page and Link up projects inspired by my posts/ tutorials [deadline is April 2nd ].Please mention and link to the post / tutorial which inspired you in your post.

You have time till April 2nd to comment on the sponsor posts.Winners will be chosen completely randomly from the linked-in entries and comments on the blog
I will announce all the winners here on the blog on April 8th - and there will be 14 lucky winners !
Here is the main link 5 Million Page Views Celebration [Main Post- everyone can comment to increase chance of winning]

28.3.16

Hi friends announcing the next giveaway which is from a store specialising in Jewelry Making SuppliesZara Beads owned by Mr Raja.And ooh just look at all those gorgeous beads, findings and quilling supplies one lucky crafter is going to win!!

Zara Beads was recommended to me by my long time blogger friend and super talented quilling specialist Shylaashree ! Thank you so much Shylaashree for introducing me!

How can you win the giveaway from Zara Beads [ Indian Address only]

Be a follower of this blog Anyone can follow ...you just need to have a gmail account in order to "Follow My Blog" [that is you need to log in to your gmail account and while logged in to your Google+ profile click the blue "Join this Site" rectangle bar on the widget with all the lovely faces on my sidebar]
2. Post the giveaway picture shown above or my celebration banner picture on your blog sidebar or if you don't have a blog, share to facebook with a link back to my blog. For newbies : Here is How to Add an Image to the Blog Sidebar3.Comment on this post before April 2nd

For Extra Entries

Go to themain Celebration Page and Link up projects inspired by my posts/ tutorials [deadline is April 2nd ].Please mention and link to the post / tutorial which inspired you in your post.

UPDATE for my International Followers

Seeing the amazing response to the celebration events and the enthusiastic participation and comments from crafters worldwide Ms Rashmi the owner of Itsy Bitsy contacted me today and said they will ship the prize worldwide so my dear friends from outside India do comment on the Itsy Bitsy Giveaway post link in case you have not done so : Itsy Bitsy Sponsored Prize[Worldwide eligibility] as you don't want to miss a chance at winning that one!

And if you have landed here for the first time...Dont forget to comment on the main celebration post and giveaway posts already announced to increase your chances of winning prizes. Here are the links:-

Hi friends my daughter finishes 4th grade this month and will be bidding farewell to her "junior school" teachers .She wanted to make Thank you gifts for five of her favorite teachers and the mini book you see in this post is one of the 5 we made to gift her teachers!

Another mini book I shared earlier[ Mixed Media Mini Book] was extremely popular here on the blog so I thought with the current mixed media craze I will share some tips and tricks on how to make a mixed media book cover in a simple and easy way.

Book Cover

Tip 1 : Choose your adhesives wisely :If you are making your own album / mini book cover and plan to do some mixed media work on it ...adhere your pattern paper on the chipboard using a good strong adhesive such as red tacky tape.

The problem with wet adhesive is if you use more you can wrap and wrinkle your paper and if you use less your paper can lift in places later if you add heavy embellishments on it.

Tip 2: Use good quality pattern paper. Unless you want to spend extra time decoupaging tissue paper or thin paper on your book cover the easiest option is to use good quality thick pattern paper which will take on all our texture paste, ink spraying, heavy embellishments without tearing or crumpling.

For this project I used gorgeous papers from Bob n Betty [sold at Crafters Corner] and these "made in India" papers have such lovely designs, are nice and thick and have a smooth semi glossy finish!

Mini Book

Tip 3: Add interest to your background with inks or texture media

Whipped Spackle

Stencils are a wonderful way to quickly and easily add a subtle yet interesting background . You can use store bought Stencils or make your own with punches, dies or by hand cutting.

Example of using Die cuts as Stencil: Die Cutting Fun
Sponge on your stencil using ink from an inkpad or a bottle of ink, spray ink on it or smear some texture paste.

Make your own unique chipboard by layering several layers of punch out or die cut shapes - yes that does require a bit of patience but would be totally cool!

Instead of store bought resin embellishments make our own clay embellishments with molds or free hand

Mini Book

The beautiful butterfly you see was fussy cut and inked from a butterfly pattern paper which was sent to me as part of winnings at Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge .Tip 5 : Add a sprinkling of really tiny embellishments!

Nail art rhinestones and sequins

One way to really jazz up your project is by adding some really tiny elements such as glitter balls , tiny pearls, chunky glitter or even cheap nail art decoration items. A sprinkling here and there adds so much visual appeal!

Glass Cabochon

Tip 6. Add a really cool extra something which makes you want to reach out and touch !

This can be a piece of fabric , the pearl mat in my project , an attractive large crystal or a glass cabochon as shown above!

I made the glass cabochon in this project by sticking a circle of pattern paper from the same Ornate Annie pattern paper set on a glass dome/cabochon and here is the detailed tutorial : Glass Cabochon tutorial

Heat embossed Flower

The 3 dimensional layered flower was made by stamping and heat embossing on parchment using Heartfelt creations Botanical Wings stamps. Tip 7 : Use Inks to ink and bring a cohesiveness to different parts of your project
Unless you have a really huge stash of craft supplies ,chances are you won't have matching papers, flowers and other embellishments for a particular project. Using a single color of distress ink to ink areas of your pattern paper, flowers and other embellishments can bring on a look of uniformity.
In this mini book I used worn lipstick Distress Ink to sponge the pattern paper on my book cover and the parchment flowers and the butterfly .

Mini Book

The actual mini book was made using a single 12 x 12 paper from another Indian brand Papericious but since I sponged both the book cover and the inner papers with the same colored distress ink ...they gel well together!
Here is the video tutorial

All those green tags were made with my favorite Poppy Stamps die and I later on inked them to tone down the bright green[ but sorry forgot to take a picture].

Mini Book

I hope you liked my mini book and hope some of these tips will be useful in your crafty adventures!

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About Me

Hi! I am an ENT Surgeon and mom to a crafty little girl. This blog is to share crafty projects, tutorials and crafty tips .I love to interact with crafters and would love to visit your blog too if you have one.Do leave a comment whenever you can and if you enjoyed visiting Do follow this blog via email or becoming a blogger friend!